A blog launched on the 41st anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the first pro-life organisation in the world, established on 11 January 1967. SPUC has been a leader in the educational and political battle against abortion, human embryo experimentation and euthanasia since then. I write this blog in my role as SPUC's chief executive, commenting on pro-life news, reflecting on pro-life issues and promoting SPUC's work.

Monday, 30 April 2012

BBC promises review of explicit sex film for children
The BBC has promised to review a sex education video it produced, following concerns within government. Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said that "Parents are justifiably worried materials like this are being used in lessons." The BBC Active video was raised to Mr Gibb's attention by Andrea Leadsom MP [Mail, 30 April]. In December last year, Mrs Leadsom helped deliver SPUC's Safe at School petition to the Department for Education [SPUC, 1 December]

Sunday, 29 April 2012

Lynne Featherstone, the British government's Equalities minister who is leading the government's campaign for same-sex marriage, told Parliament recently that:

"Religious people may continue to believe that marriage can be only between a man and a woman. That is not the state’s view. We do not take the Orwellian view that “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”."

Mrs Featherstone has made an absurd gaffe regarding George Orwell's Animal Farm and its relevance to the definition of marriage. The whole point of Animal Farm is a condemnation of arbitrary redefinitions by the state of fundamental norms in order to serve vested interests. This is exactly what Ms Featherstone is guilty of in her proposed rewriting of the centuries-old understanding of marriage in order to serve the vested interests of the homosexual rights lobby.

Just as in Stalin's Russia (the regime Orwell was condeming) people were punished who didn't obey the state's latest ideological diktats, so too is Mrs Featherstone's Britain moving towards punishing people who won't accept the homosexual rights agenda.

Friday, 27 April 2012

“reaffirm the principle of the prohibition of eugenics, and the obligation of the Member States to protect the life of every person, including of the disabled before their birth.”

The petition is open to individuals, families, and disabled rights organisations. People living in EU and Council of Europe countries are strongly encouraged to sign the petition. The campaign is supported by pro-life and disability rights organisations such as Fondation Jerome Lejeune, Down Syndrome Ireland, Down Syndrome Education International, and the European Down Syndrome Association.

The petition comes in response to the case of Anita KRUZMANE v. Latvia. The statement of facts provided by the European Court of Human Rights says that on 15 January 2002, applicant Anita Kruzmane, during her eighteenth week of pregnancy, had an appointment with doctor L. The doctor suggested that the applicant have a consultation with a specialist and, inter alia, issued a referral for the applicant to undergo an alpha-feto protein (“AFP”) test. The AFP test is used to detect prenatal foetal abnormality. The applicant later alleged that she had not in fact been referred for the AFP test by doctor L. and, consequently, had not taken the test. On 5 June 2002 the applicant gave birth to a daughter with Down’s syndrome. The applicant complains under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights that, owing to the negligence of a doctor, she was denied adequate and timely medical care in the form of an antenatal screening test which would have indicated the risk of her foetus having a genetic disorder and which would have allowed her to choose whether to continue the pregnancy.

This case has come to light weeks after the United Nations established 21 March 2012 the first world Down’s syndrome day. This case now before the follows several other high-profile cases about abortion, such as Vo v France, Tysiac v Poland, A.B.C v Ireland, and R.R v Poland. This case, like many cases concerning abortion, can be considered another attempt by the pro-abortion culture of death. Most recently Brazil changed its legislation to permit the killing of unborn babies with anencephaly. We have also seen several cases from France and the Netherlands concerning so-called “wrongful births” of children with conditions such as Down’s syndrome. What makes the present case particularly lamentable is the fact that it is disabled babies who are the target of ideologues who jump at the chance of bringing such cases to the courts, disguising their wicked agenda with the rhetoric of choice, rights, health, and equality. The decisions of the courts are then used as a form of soft law to be cited and quoted, included in reports, referenced in future legal submissions, all with the aim of establishing a human right to abortion.

According to the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) memorandum:

“This case may provide an opportunity for the Court to clarify its case-law with regard to eugenics and abortion. This is necessary due to some visible confusion in the existing case-law, and this is made possible considering the large number of important cases currently before the Court on this issue.”

Confusion is putting it mildly, when we consider that each ECHR judgment that fails to recognise and uphold the fundamental and inalienable right to life from conception is a farce that cannot be fig-leafed with claims about state sovereignty and lack of consensus on the issue. Gregor Puppinck of the ECLJ, says that the key question arising from this case can be summarised as follows:

"Does the Convention guarantee a right to eugenics for parents, and in particular to the procedure of prenatal screening-elimination of sick or disabled fetuses? If so, does the State have a positive obligation in this regard?"

On March 21 2012 we celebrated the first International World Down’s Syndrome Day. In the UK 92% of babies prenatally diagnosed with Down's syndrome are killed by abortion. This has remained constant since 1989 when the National Down's Syndrome Cytogenetic Register began. Under the UK Abortion Act, a child with Down's syndrome can be aborted up to birth. These are sad and utterly unacceptable facts. We continue to live in a society that has waged a eugenic genocide against unborn disabled babies. Please sign the petition, encourage others to do so, and think about supporting SPUC’s No Less Human division and our wider work of campaigning on behalf of people with disabilities and illness born and unborn, their parents, and carers.

UK pilot study concludes that 13-year-olds should be able to buy birth control pills at pharmacies
A pilot study in south-east London has concluded that girls as young as 13 should be allowed to buy birth control pills at pharmacies. A report found that 46% of the girls involved in the pilot had not used the pill before. [Guardian, 25 April] Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "Some years ago similar pilot schemes were conducted prior to the morning-after pill being authorised for prescription-free sale in pharmacies. It is clear that the main criteria for success in these studies is the uptake of teenagers using the pills. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy designed to mislead policy-makers."

UK Equalities Minister to promote 'family planning' in visit to Africa
Lynne Featherstone, Britain's Equalities Minister will promote so-called 'family planning' in a visit this week to Africa. The government announced that 'family planning' was one of the issues at the "top of the agenda" for the visit. [Home Office, 24 April] The current British government has made supporting abortion, contraception and so-called gay rights priorities for its international development agenda.

Other stories:

Abortion

"I'm childless at 42 and haunted by the baby I aborted at 18" [Mail, 26 April]

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

I was recently sent a wonderful pro-life video. The film depicts the thoughts of a baby who is aware that they are about to be killed in their mother's womb. The poem 'Interview with an unborn child', by Dr. Mojdeh Shirvanian, is set against the back-drop of beautiful images of unborn children .

Brad Mattes of the Life Issues Institute offers his reflection on the video:

... We get to hear the baby’s firsthand response with his “voice” in the clip.

Here’s a portion of the chilling “interview:”

"My loudest cry is in silence. My most beautiful dreams. Turn into nightmares. My greatest pain will not reach the ears of anyone. Not even my mother. I will never know who I am. Only He who has made me different from all others will know me. He sees my talents and who I would become. Nobody else will ever know me. Not even my mother . . . And except for death, no one will kiss me. Not even my mother."

"It’s absolutely heartbreaking to hear these words within the context of the deaths of 1.2 million babies every year. You’ll have to watch the video in its entirety to see what comes next."

Friday, 20 April 2012

Two Glasgow midwives who were told in February that they had to supervise abortions, regardless of their conscientious objection, have launched an appeal against the decision. The judge in the Scottish Court of Session told the midwives, Mary Doogan and Connie Wood, both labour ward sisters, that the conscience clause in the Abortion Act would exempt them from hands-on involvement in abortions, but as senior midwives they had to accept management instructions to oversee abortions performed by other midwives on the labour ward.

A small but increasing number of abortions are being transferred to labour wards in line with national policies against disability. Screening and offering abortion for disabled babies is regarded as a cost-effective measure, and hospitals are encouraged to offer tests for disability.

The costs of Glasgow midwives' legal action are being underwritten by SPUC. People wishing to make donations towards the midwives' legal costs should telephone SPUC on +44 (0)20 7091 7091.

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Pro-life campaigners in over 50 towns and cities in the UK will this month give silent witness to unborn babies killed in the 44 years since the implementation of the Abortion Act, as well as to the hurt caused to women by abortion.

On Saturday 28 April (some locations Sat 21 April, see below), supporters of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) www.spuc.org.uk will form chains, standing along the kerbside at intervals holding placards which bring home the reality of abortion. The event is known as the Pro-life Chains and will be held from 11am to 1pm (times differ for some locations, see below).

The Abortion Act 1967 came into effect on 27 April 1968. Since then well over seven-and-a-half million unborn children have been killed through registered abortion in Britain. This figure does not include abortions which may be caused by birth control drugs and devices. Nor does it include the number of embryos destroyed or discarded during and after in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Abortion is increasingly under the national spotlight, following revelations about unethical practices in the abortion industry and a rise in pro-life vigils.

The full list of locations for the event is listed below. Media outlets are welcome to send a reporter and/or photographer to cover the event. Media and supporters interested in the event should contact Tony Mullett, the event's national organiser on (01772) 258580 or at tonymullett@spuc.org.uk SPUC's communications department can be contacted on (0)7939 177683 or (020) 7820 3129 or news@spuc.org.uk
Chains will take place at the following towns on Saturday 28 April from 11am to 1pm unless otherwise stated:

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Morning-after pill to be delivered by courier in London
A London medical practice is to deliver morning-after pills by courier. Women wanting the pills will fill out an online form, to be assessed by a doctor, and the pills will be delivered within two hours. Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust condemned the plan, saying: “[Y]oung people have been lulled into a false sense of security ... and become exposed to an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections” by easy access to morning-after pills. [Evening Standard, 16 April]

Parents can have a duty to use IVF, say bioethicists
Two American bioethicists have argued that some parents have a moral obligation to use IVF and embryo testing to create only disease-free children. In a piece in The American Journal of Bioethics, Janet Malek of East Carolina University and Judith F. Daar of Whittier Law School in California, support "a duty on IVF-reproducing parents to maximize the well-being of their future offspring by all reasonable means". [BioEdge, 13 April] Anthony Ozimic of SPUC said: "This is just the latest version of the age-old barbarism of eugenics, stretching from the exposing of disabled infants in ancient Greece to the Nazi euthanasia programme. We must not be weak in condeming it simply because it appears in an academic journal."

Monday, 16 April 2012

UK clinic to offer ovarian tissue freezing for first time in UK
A London clinic plans to offer ovarian tissue freezing for the first time in the UK. The procedure involves removing part of one ovary, freezing it and then re-implanting it at a later date. It is being proposed for both medical and social reasons. [Telegraph, 16 April] Pro-life commentators have objected to procedure as contrary to nature.

Huge increase in assisted suicide cases in Oregon and Switzerland
There has been a huge increase in assisted suicide in Oregon and Switzerland, says a UK doctor. Peter Saunders, head of the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF), said that the latest figures suggest that since 1998 assisted suicides have risen by 450% in Oregon and by 700% in Switzerland. Dr Saunders argues that such increases are an inevitable result of legal approval of assisted suicide. [Peter Saunders, 15 April]

US group to fund abortion training for British medical students
An American pro-abortion group is to fund placements at British abortion centres for British medical students. The placements, funded by Medical Students For Choice (MSFC) will last for two weeks. Anthony Ozimic of SPUC told The Guardian newspaper: "This reflects the desperation of the abortion industry to recruit enough interest among medical students. It's been the case for many years that there have been fewer and fewer students and doctors willing to be involved. That's partly due to an increased awareness of the unethical nature of abortion." [Guardian, 6 April]

Sunday, 15 April 2012

Last month I reported on SPUC's very successful international youth conference. I am delighted that I am still receiving positive feedback from some of the young delegates who were present at the conference.

One such example is Charlene, a young lady from Malta who attended our conference. Charlene told me:

"Regarding the conference, Marlene and I felt that it was both educational and fun. The chosen topics were immensely interesting and the speakers were really good. They managed to present their arguments in a truly appealing way ... we felt that this conference gave us the strength to combat those who are in favour of abortion. Without any doubt, it was also a very encouraging experience."

A follow up email confirmed that these young people are already engaged in effective work to combat the culture of death and to promote a culture of life.

"At the moment in Malta we are discussing IVF. Members of Parliament will soon be voting upon a bill which would legalise IVF and this might include embryo freezing. IVF has been practised in private clinics for the last 20 years in Malta by two practitioners. IVF is not illegal in Malta, there just is no law regulating it. We'll see how things develop! I'm attaching a poster which +9STUDENTI has been distributing around University."

The poster that Charlene sent to me is the picture that you see in the top right-hand corner of this post. They also have a website: +9STUDENTI. If you open the website with certain internet browsers, for example Google Chrome, you will be offered an instantaneous translation.

However there is one article on the website which is written in English and it contains an encouraging vision of the commitment of these young people to defending and promoting life. The article reads:

"What’s +9STUDENTI’s mission about?

I could sum it up by saying that we’re there to group together, organize and direct the pro-life voice amongst our post-secondary and tertiary students, recognizing in them the future of our Nation and our (hopefully pro-life) culture. We’re there to inform, form, seek out and embrace pro-life students and we’re most eager to get on board those that actually want to contribute in one way or another to promote a pro-life culture amongst our students. 'Pro-life' for us means that we’re there to assert and defend the value of life from conception till natural death across a variety of academic disciplines. We’re there to campaign so that students become a national force for life, allowing for a greater awareness of the value of our own life and of every innocent human life.

While we’re there for life and against all the threats that it could face, our name is also emblematic of the focus of our mission. As Maltese and Europeans, we face seemingly overwhelming political and cultural trends and expect abortion, and/or the disregard for human life at its most delicate pre-birth stages, to be boiled up by the political sorcerers of our age who are laying the groundwork for the victory of death through the abuse of worthy notions such as freedom, personhood, rights and dignity.

We expect the growth of an initially subtle and then potentially aggressive movement campaigning against life through the banners of choice and individual determinism, fostering a disregard for the biological realities of human life and sophistries aimed at favouring death and an egoistic and egotistical individualist culture which starts with oneself and ends with oneself.

+9STUDENTI recognizes the above and more, and is there to oppose these coming deadly trends. We’re there to group together and prepare students for the coming work ahead. As founder and President of +9STUDENTI I call on all pro-life post-secondary and tertiary students (please note that +9STUDENTI is not exclusively for University students) to get in contact with us and lend a helping hand. No help is too little, so if you believe in it, fight for it!"

It is fantastic that these young Maltese students are doing everything in their power to defend life. I hope that SPUC can continue to be of assistance to and continue to promote such courageous pro-life leadership.

Saturday, 14 April 2012

It is saddening to read that a prayer initiative has been established, which prays for a promotion of and widespread toleration of abortion. The group appears to have been inspired by the international 40 Days for Life campaign. It has received the backing of a Planned Parenthood affiliate in California, USA, where the prayer campaign is taking place. One of the prayers being used is reported to describe abortion as “sacred care”. Needless to say, abortion is precisely the opposite of care and to describe abortion as "sacred" may well be considered blasphemy by many religious people. SPUC's website contains details of the various abortion procedures: decide for yourself whether any clear thinking person could consider such bloody work to be "sacred".

Various commentators argue that these direct attacks on the pro-life movement only serve to swell our numbers and bolster our conviction. I hope that this is true.

David Bereit, founder of the 40 Days for Life campaign, told LifeSiteNews that the prayers were a response to the devastating impact of the 40 Days for Life campaign on the abortion industry. He said:

“Some say that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,’ but when that imitation is being used to promote the killing of innocent children, we are anything but flattered...Planned Parenthood has stooped to a new low by exploiting pastors and churches to ‘celebrate’ the slaughter of babies made in God’s image and likeness ... They certainly wouldn’t be doing this if 40 Days for Life wasn’t having a devastating impact on their abortion business!”

In the spirit of using the pithy attacks of the pro-abortion movement to encourage pro-life activism I include below two speeches by David Bereit. In the video below David Bereit rightly reminds the gathered crowd that pro-life work is inspired by love and that we must continue to pray for those promoting a culture of death. I was disappointed not to be able to attend one of the events when he spoke in the UK prior to the recent 40 Days for Life campaigns, but am glad to see that there are so many excellent speeches of his online. They are both informative and inspiring.

Friday, 13 April 2012

I was delighted to read of a Catholic seminary in the United States which is confronting the culture of death as a community. LifeSiteNews reports:

Father James Wehner, rector of the Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, says he believes that seminarians need to “see visibly the forces of evil at work, and respond with an act of faith in which prayer becomes the greater force.”

Seminarians in Ohio, USA, outside a local abortion centre

These seminarians are encouraged to go to one of two local abortion centres every Saturday. Once a semester the entire seminary community goes together. This is wonderfully encouraging news and I think is reflective of a growing trend of members of the clergy and laity opposing the abortion movement with prayer and through offering women alternatives to abortion. It is wonderful that bishops and priests in England are also a part of this trend.

If you can please support Bishop John Hine, Catholic auxiliary bishop of Southwark, who is joining the vigil at Marie Stopes abortion facility, Brewer Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1RV, on Friday, 27th April 2012, the 44th aniversary of the Abortion Act. Bishop Hine is celebrating the 12.30 Mass at St. Francis's Church, Week Street, Maidstone. He is then joining in the vigil which begins with a prayerful and peaceful procession with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Marie Stopes abortuary and concludes with a return procession at 2.30 p.m.

The interview is a comprehensive account of Alison's story, from wishing to die for ten years to being a powerful campaigner against euthanasia and assisted suicide and the inalienable right to life of all. Alison is among the most eloquent and compelling of the many defenders of this right and this interview is essential listening for all those involved in the pro-life movement.

I have been blessed to know and work with Alison for many years, but I still found hearing her story again in her own words very powerful. I was particularly moved by the section of the interview in which Alison explains that after a failed suicide attempt medics took the life saving action of pumping her stomach while she unconscious, despite her having asked them not to while she was still conscious. Alison says:

"When I woke up I was really angry that I was still alive and I remember berating them [the medical staff] and saying 'how dare you go against my wishes?' Now of course I am eternally grateful. Thank God, literally, that they did not do what I asked them to do. I would have missed so much - the best years of my life funnily enough, even though the pain is worse. But it took me quite a while to get from a point of extreme anger to extreme gratefulness."

I too am eternally grateful that Alison got the life-saving care she needed and that she continues to defend and to enrich the lives of so many people.

It is even more vital that Alison's message of hope is heard by others who feel that they may be better off dead.

Alison expresses what is no doubt a common thought among those contemplating suicide, when she says:

"When I wanted to die I thought I'd be doing my friends and family a favour. I thought, well they'll go back to their normal lives and don't have to be burdened with me. It's only looking back that I realise what a horrible trick of the mind that is."

Later in the interview Alison is asked to give a message directly to those who might be contemplating suicide or wishing for somebody else to help to kill them. Alison says:

"What one person does impacts on what everyone else does. And if we say to one eighty year old lady who thinks her life is not worth having anymore...then we start to say that being tired of living is a good enough reason to have your life ended. And then what happens to other eighty year old ladies who are starting to think maybe I'm a burden to my family - shouldn't I do the same thing? And just looking on it from a purely basic point of view, if we start to allow it there will be no end because we [will] have said that this is an appropriate answer to this problem, and I say it isn't."

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Earlier this month the Guardian newspaper, no doubt downhearted by the disappointing turn-out to a pro-abortion protest they organized in central London recently, published a story with the alarmist headline Anti-abortion climate 'will deter new generation of doctors'

In the story, the Guardian quoted a Dr Kate Guthrie as saying:

" ... from the feedback that I have had, I really do think that the question has to be asked: what impact is this increasingly negative politicisation going to have on future providers of abortion care? Is it going to put doctors and nurses off becoming involved in this work?"

Roger French, chairman of SPUC Milton Keynes branch, wrote to me with the following observation:

I've noticed that the pro-abortion lobby use language in the same way that the Soviets and their proxies did in drafting UN resolutions back in the good old days, full of euphemisms like "peace" and "democracy".

Here we have Dr Kate Guthrie, clinical director with Hull and East Riding Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Partnership, asking the question "What impact is this increasingly negative politicisation going to have on future providers of abortion care? Is it going to put doctors and nurses off becoming involved in this work?"

" ... Dr. John Sentamu, the Anglican Archbishop of York, was accused of 'exaggerating' when he spoke of the Government’s proposals to re-define the identity of marriage as linked to a totalitarian mentality (The Daily Telegraph 31st January 2012). Yet his analysis of recent history is clearer than that of many of the leaders of opinion in our society."

Bishop Davies suggested in his sermon that the Cameron/Clegg government is attempting to turn the clock back to pre-Christian times and to discard the Christian inheritance of faith and morality as if it had never existed. He said:

"If Christianity is no longer to form the basis and the bedrock of our society then we are, indeed, left at the mercy of passing political projects and perhaps even the most sinister of ideologies."

Bishop Davies is right to refer to totalitarianism when speaking of the Government's plans with regard to same sex marriage. To understand why, consider the far-sighted reflection of another world Catholic leader, Cardinal Pell, who recently published his submission to the Australian Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee. Zenit, the international news agency, reports:

[Cardinal Pell] said that the Commonwealth of Australia must continue to recognise and support marriage as meaning the exclusive and permanent union of one man and one woman.

Some proponents of same-sex marriage have argued that in the event of marriage being redefined, the Catholic Church and other religious communities will be protected or exempted from being required by law to perform same-sex marriages.

Cardinal Pell commented that such proposals fail to understand the immensely powerful role and influence of the law in our society. Changing the Marriage Act would, in practice, compel Catholics and other faith communities to recognize and accept same-sex marriages in their schools, social welfare, health care and adoption services, he pointed out.

When we permit same-sex relationships to mimic marriage we also say that a child gains no benefit from the knowledge that they were created through an intimate act of love between their parents, Cardinal Pell said.

Cardinal Pell's words to the Australian Senate totally apply to David Cameron's claim last week that church law will not be affected by extending civil marriage to same-sex couples and that his proposals would “change what happens in a register office, not what happens in a church”. Not so, according to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Whereas the ECHR (in a recent ruling concerning a lesbian couple in France) ruled that there was no obligation on member states' governments to legalise same-sex marriage, the judges also said:

"Where national legislation recognises registered partnerships between same sex, member states should aim to ensure that their legal status and their rights and obligations are equivalent to those of heterosexual couples in a similar situation."

"Once same-sex marriage has been legalised then the partners to such a marriage are entitled to exactly the same rights as partners in a heterosexual marriage.

"This means that if same-sex marriage is legalised in the UK it will be illegal for the Government to prevent such marriages happening in religious premises."

One does not need the powers of an Old Testament prophet to understand the pressures which will be brought bear on parents and on educators not to teach children that marriage is the permanent, exclusive union of one man and one woman, or not to teach that same-sex marriage lacks basic elements of real marriage - for example the complementary sexual difference between spouses necessary for the procreation and healthy upbringing of children.

Thus the right of parents to be the primary educators of their children will be further undermined - a right written in to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically in the light of the Nazis' attempt "to turn Germany's renowned educational system into a mechanism for indoctrinating the young with the government's programme". (See Professor Mary Ann Glendon's authoritative book on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights A World Made New.)
Bishop Davies's comments are timely and worthy of wide dissemination and further study.

Readers of my blog in Britain may like to apply for flyers to take our message about real marriage to the general public, door-to-door and on high streets throughout the UK.

*Real marriage as an institution protects children, both born and unborn. Statistics show that unborn children are much safer within marriage than outside marriage. For more information see SPUC's position paper and background paper on same-sex marriage.

The C4M has launched a petition which may have already been promoted in your local area, probably through local churches. It’s vital that the petition is a huge success. Let me know if you would further copies of the C4M petition or a poster.

In order to defend real marriage successfully, we urgently need to reach everyone in the community. A copy of the new SPUC flyer on real marriage is reproduced below. Would it be possible for you to order copies of this flyer from SPUC and to give it out in the street where you live where you live or in a neighbouring street?

As Colin Hart, the campaign director of C4M told supporters recently:

“The Government [has] launched its consultation on redefining marriage. Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone said she was determined to change marriage whether the public likes it or not”.

The SPUC flyer urges members of the public to obtain and sign the C4M petition – and it urges them to respond to the government consultation.

If, in addition, to giving out flyers in the street where you live, or in a neighbouring street, you’re in a position to organize a team of people to do the same thing – however small a team that may be – please let me know.

Write to me at johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk so that I can send you the number of leaflets you require. You can also ask me for SPUC’s briefing on responding to the government’s consultation on same-sex marriage.

Pray

At my own local SPUC branch, SPUC Harrow, we have agreed to undertake a street by street door-to-door leafleting campaign. Colleen Wallace, one of our supporters, is a Catholic and she urged all Catholics present at the meeting to commit themselves to an hour's Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament a week in support of this project. As a Catholic myself, I have agreed to do this. Any Catholic readers of my blog wishing to respond to Colleen Wallace's call, let me know, so that I can pass on news of your commitment to Colleen.

*Marriage as an institution protects children, both born and unborn. Statistics show that unborn children are much safer within marriage than outside marriage. For more information see SPUC's position paper and background paper on same-sex marriage.

Saturday, 7 April 2012

SPUC’s executive committee is planning an open session of Council (SPUC’s governing body) at the next meeting of Council on Saturday, 21st April 2012.

There will be a joint special presentation on same-sex marriage* by Patricia Morgan, author, journalist, broadcaster, and a sociologist specialising in criminology and family policy, and by Anthony McCarthy, a bioethicist and SPUC’s education manager.

The open session of Council, the first of its kind for many years, will provide an opportunity for members of the Society to discuss SPUC’s campaigns (such as same-sex marriage and its relevance to pro-life issues) and to learn about SPUC’s new educational presentation for schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There will also be an opportunity to put questions to the Society’s officers and to meet supporters from other parts of the country.

The meeting will be taking place in Kennington, close to SPUC’s head office. Only SPUC members may attend the open session of Council. Please contact patkingman@spuc.org.uk for your invitation to attend or write to Pat Kingman at SPUC, 3 Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street, London, SE11 4AB.

*Marriage as an institution protects children, both born and unborn. Statistics show that unborn children are much safer within marriage than outside marriage. For more information see SPUC's position paper and background paper on same-sex marriage.

Friday, 6 April 2012

The Radiance Foundation, founded by Ryan Bomberger, have a number of excellent pro-life videos, including short videos which expose the epidemic of abortion in the black community. I think that the video below, "Number One Killer", which is part 2 of 3 of "The Numbers don't lie" series, is particularly good and should be shared with as many people as possible.

Many people do not know, that since 1973 (year abortion was legalized in the U.S.) more African American babies have been killed by abortion than the total number of African American deaths from all other causes combined.

Abortion services have been deliberately and systematically targeted towards African Americans. A disproportionate number of the nation’s abortion mills are located in minority neighbourhoods.

35% of abortions in the United States are performed on African American women, while they represent only 13% of the female population of the country.

The abortion rate among married African American women is three times greater than it is among white women.

According to the 2000 Census, Hispanics have replaced African Americans as the largest minority group in the US. The loss of over 14 million black babies through abortion has played a significant part in this population decline.

The eugenic ideals of the abortion lobby are not exclusive to the United States, but are evident in the UK and throughout the world. Marie Stopes, the British counterpart of Margaret Sanger (founder of International Planned Parenthood), was also a eugenicist. In a letter to Clarence Gamble in 1939, making reference to her 'Negro Project', Sanger wrote: “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population...”

Marie Stopes applauded the Nazi eugenics programme and played an active part in the Berlin ‘racial science’ conference in 1935. She is known to have admired Adolf Hitler, and sent him a book of her poetry. In 1942, she wrote the following, “Catholics, Prussians, The Jews and the Russians, All are a curse, Or something worse...” She called for compulsory sterilisation of those deemed unfit for parenthood and disinherited her own son for marrying a woman who needed glasses (see the Science Museum website for reference). Stopes left her clinic at 108 Whitfield Street to the Eugenics Society upon her death. Thankfully there is a daily peaceful, prayerful pro-life vigil organised outside 108 Whitfield Street by The Good Counsel Network.

I applaud the Radiance Foundation for their innovative work exposing the abortion industry and defending human life.

Thursday, 5 April 2012

Earlier this year SPUC launched a new online publication, a blog written by young people entitled Why I am Pro-Life. The aim of the blog is to bring the pro-life message to the next generation. Our hope is that it will both draw more young people to the pro-life movement and help to educate and strengthen the resolve of the many young people already determined to defend and promote life. However, the quality of the posts is such that it is essential reading for everybody involved in the pro-life movement.

I've said before that my experience of meeting and working with many young people gives me great hope for the future. One of the striking things about the 40 Days for Life campaign in London is that it is youth-led and that many, if not the majority, of people who are crucial the campaign's success are young people.

Young people participating at the Autum 2011 40 Days for Life campaign

It is evident too in my work with SPUC that despite all the media bias and pressure, all the indoctrination of school children with anti-life education, despite the largely toxic modern culture in which human life is wantonly disregarded and destroyed in so many ways - despite all this there is a growing number of people who see through the lies of our age and our determined to oppose them with the truth. Long may they continue in this resolve and I hope that SPUC may be of great assistance to them in their work.

Tuesday, 3 April 2012

Please watch Reggie Littlejohn's powerful video exposing the horror of the Chinese one-child policy. Reggie Littlejohn is President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, a non-partisan, international coalition to oppose forced abortion and human trafficking in China. She is also an internationally acclaimed expert on China’s One Child Policy. She has twice delivered an address at European Parliament in Brussels concerning the One-Child Policy. Her first Address was included as a chapter in the book, Human Rights in China After the Olympic Games, (Human Rights Without Frontiers, 2009), now available on Amazon.com.

**READERS ARE WARNED THAT THE FOLLOWING FILM CONTAINS DISTURBING IMAGES OF ABORTED CHILDREN**

The brutal Chinese one-child policy receives support and funding from the United National Population Fund (UNFPA). Extensive details of this support are listed below. In 2010 the UK was listed as the seventh highest regular donor to the UNFPA and gave the highest amount of what the UNFPA categorise as 'Other contributions'. The UK gave a grand total of US$97,840,118 (£60,573,145.13) to UNFPA in 2010 alone.

In 1979, the very year that China introduced its brutal one-child policy, UNFPA signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with the Chinese government.

In 1983, the year commonly regarded as the worst year for coercion, UNFPA gave one of its first two Population Awards to the minister-in-charge of China’s State Family Planning Commission. (The other award that year was given to Indira Gandhi, the Indian prime minister, whose government enforced compulsory birth control including sterilisation.)

In 1985, Rafael Salas, UNFPA’s then executive director, told Premier Zhao Ziyang that "China should feel proud of the achievements made in her family planning program." (reported by The People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper).

In 1991, UNFPA's then executive director Nafis Sadik said: "China has every reason to feel proud of and pleased with its remarkable achievements made in its family planning policy and control of its population growth.” (Xinhua, 11 April 1991) In 2002 China's State Family Planning Commission gave Nafis Sadik its own Population Award.

In 1999, UNFPA aided and abetted "ethnic cleansing" by indicted war criminal Slobodan Milosevic by assisting his regime's plan "to limit or forbid the enormous increase of the birthrate in Kosovo".

In 2001, Thoraya Obaid, the new UNFPA executive director, said that over the past 20 years, China had seen notable achievements made in population control by implementing the family planning policy.

In 2001, research by the (pro-life) Population Research Institute (PRI) found that UNFPA was complicit in population control against Muslims in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.

In 2003, UNFPA exploited the aftermath of the war in Iraq to launch a campaign to provide "reproductive health" to Iraqi refugees. ("Reproductive health" is a euphemism which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined as including abortion on demand.

It is to our great shame that the UK is complicit in this most tragic abuse of human life. Women's Rights without Frontiers have an ongoing international petition which you can sign today. Please do so. The petition reads:

To the Attention of Chinese Ambassador, Mr. Zhang Yesui

Dear Sir,
We are aware that Chinese authorities are forcibly aborting women to enforce coercive birth limits in connection with China’s One Child Policy. We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned for the suffering caused by these forced abortions and respectfully request that the Chinese government stop this brutal practice.

Monday, 2 April 2012

SPUC evangelicals are leading an important pro-life outreach in major cities through which the Olympic torch will travel. Reverend Arthur Woood, a member of the SPUC evangelicals committee, has put together a programme to take the pro-life message to the heart of the Olympic games and into the hearts of the British public.

Arthur will be leading an act of pro-life witness in several towns and cities around the country. Pro-lifers will be handing out a specially designed leaflet (right) and holding Olympic torch placards.

Other towns on the Olympic torch itinerary can be added if you are willing to help Arthur organizing an event in a town local to you. Anyone wanting to support the events listed, or organize a new one, should contact Arthur. Write to me at my email address below and I will put you in touch.

You can also support Arthur Wood's initiative by simply ordering the flyer pictured above and delivering it door-to-door. Again, contact me at the email address below if you would like to order flyers.

Sunday, 1 April 2012

At last month's conference in Belfast, Defending the Rights of Parents, Protecting Children, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children were presented with a belated Christmas gift by the Woolsey family.

This is Gordon Woolsey who contacted us in late November 2011, to say that each Christmas for the previous four or five years he and his father, Don, had undertaken a sponsored fast on Christmas Day to raise money for one or two charities. They had decided that their next fast would aim to raise money for the Irish Mission of the Presbyterian Church and SPUC. We provided them with promotional material, flyers, T-shirts, badges etc. and through their business, (they run a petrol station) they gathered donations organised a raffle for a mountain bike and distributed literature and little feet badges. In total they raised £4000 and divided the sum between the two causes. Unfortunately Don wasn't able to come to the conference for the presentation of the cheque.

John Smeaton

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 39 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to SPUC's staff, supporters and advisers for their help to me in researching, writing and producing this blog.

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